


no other magic could ever compare

by yourmoon



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:01:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21571216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourmoon/pseuds/yourmoon
Summary: It takes days, months, and even years for her to finally believe in magic.
Relationships: Yoon Jeonghan/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 15





	1. i

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mooninthebox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mooninthebox/gifts).



“Slytherin!!” The Sorting Hat howled, followed by the sound of loud cheering from her right side. At the corner of her eyes, a bunch of students wearing black robes with Slytherin crest on their chests—their silver snake pride, and the green-lined hood were giving her a standing applause, roared enthusiastically as she hopped down from the wooden chair, not liking the feeling of a speaking hat on her head. She put her best fake smile as she strode towards them. Before their arms could reach her, she glanced at the Ravenclaw table, where her childhood friend was sorted into. She found him already looking back at her, giving a slight nod as if he told her “You’ll be fine.” 

Would she? She always hated Slytherin. She never wanted to be one of them. Sure, the Dark Lord was long gone. Sure, the chosen one, the legendary Harry Potter defeated him and made the world a better place. But still, she couldn’t wipe out the history that most of the Dark Lord followers belonged to this house, _her_ house now. She always loved to dive into her books, loved to question about the universe and how it worked. She always had the whys and hows. She wanted to know and learn everything. 8 years old of her would lie down beneath the stars, with her best friend beside her, pointing at the constellations above them. Her best friend would suddenly blurt out a question, or a trivia, anything to entertain her, “Do you believe that Orion could best Artemis if she let him?”. They would spend hours under the moonlight, didn’t mind the cold breeze that began piercing their bones.

She always wished they would do that over and over again, once the school started, spending their free time together at Ravenclaw tower, talking about the stars, the moon and the universe. She always wanted to be a Ravenclaw. Yet the Sorting Hat wanted her to be in the house she avoided the most.

***

In her third year, she was still in the process of adapting. She was getting used to the grand and luxurious common room, the greenish lamps hanging on chains, giving the room the thick eerie atmosphere. Slytherin house was always dark, the sun could never shine through for it was literally at the dungeon. On her very first day stepping into the common room, she almost died from a heart attack when she saw a giant squish peeping at the window, staring right into her eyes. 

“You were lucky it wasn’t a Grindylow.” Wonwoo, her best friend since they were five, said when she told him the story. “You will definitely faint. And for Slytherin student, trust me, it isn’t cool.”

That evening, she drew her blanket closer, hunched her knees, and brought a book titled “The Werewolves Around You” to her lap. There was only one silver velvet couch at the corner of Slytherin common room, the rest were mostly green or black velvet. The couch became her favorite spot to read. Every evening, she would bring her book and her cherished full-moon blanket and sit there to read until her eyes went drowsy. To her surprise, every evening, the couch was never occupied. It looked like their housemates knew there was one 3 rd  grade girl who already marked her spot on this particular silver velvet couch every evening. That thought oddly gave her a warm fuzzy feeling. It made her feel like home. Maybe she belonged to this house after all. 

A bark of laughter echoed through the stone walls, prompting her to hiss in frustration. She tore her gaze away from the book and looked up to find a pack of male students laughing hysterically, clapping their hands like madmen, a couple of them was throwing cushions to a guy who, she assumed, cracked a joke. She knew the guy, who didn’t? Girls in her dormitory were always talking about him before they went to sleep. The prince charming of Slytherin, or our Slytherin pride, they would call him. She caught his real name though, Yoon Jeonghan. He was one year older than her, made him a senior. Her eyes lingered a little bit longer than she had to. She noticed the way he laughed, a consequence of deep rumbling sound bouncing to the cold stone walls and when it hit her ears, she could feel the sun shone above her. She noticed the twinkling of his eyes as he laughed, urging her to press her lips firmly together to keep her from smiling. And when he pushed his long blonde hair back as he slouched against the armrest, her heart gave a huge bound. She frowned at this sudden movement of her heart. This was new and a little bit alarming for her. Before she could figure out what just happened, their eyes met. She let out a fake cough, blinking rapidly as she flipped to the next page even though she hadn’t even done reading the previous one. She knew she was in trouble when she was struggling to read one sentence. Her eyes would drift back to the first word, again and again, for she could feel a pair of eyes was still glued on her.

***

A year later, she was so much better at accepting the fact that she was a Slytherin. She made some friends who would walk with her to the Great Hall or classes or during their Hogsmeade visits. There were also some friends from other houses though she would still spend her free time more with Wonwoo. Her friends knew her evening ritual, so they wouldn’t bother to ask her out after 5 p.m. She was thankful for it, _for them_.

She didn’t bring her blanket this time. Somehow the coldness of the dungeon didn’t bother her anymore. In fact, she started to love it. She stretched out her legs, putting them on a single round couch in front of her. She was about to open her book when she felt someone nudged her legs.

“Don’t you feel a little bit greedy here?”

She dropped her legs in a heartbeat, letting the owner of the voice sat in front of her. Jeonghan slumped down on the couch, a sigh slipped out of his lips as he closed his eyes. There, she saw a chance and took it. His long blonde hair was gone, now replaced by scissor sides cut with a neat brushed down fringe. His hair was dyed black, maybe it was its original color. She bet on her life that this guy in front of her had no idea she was struggling to keep her heart stay in place. 

“So, that Ravenclaw nerdy guy is dating you?”

His eyes were still closed when he asked this. That’s why she didn’t know for sure if he was talking to her. When he realized that he got no answer, he opened his eyes and looked at her. His eyebrows raised, expecting an answer.

“Wait, what?” She was taken aback at the sight of him in front of her, didn’t know how to respond even though she knew exactly who he was talking about.

He sighed once again, “Listen,” leaning forward only to make her drew back, “there is a Yule Ball this Saturday, which I am sure you are smart enough to know about this event, do you want to come with me?”

She blinked once. Twice. And thrice. Her mind suddenly flashed back to this afternoon when she argued with Wonwoo who was apparently a huge coward. 

“I don’t understand why is it so hard to ask her out. It’s been four years, Wonwoo. Four years, and you are still chickened out???” Her voice echoed through the hall as they hastened their steps towards the greenhouse.

“I’m not chickened out. I’m just…” Wonwoo paused for a few seconds, searching for an excuse. 

“You’re just..?”

“Being a good friend. I mean I know you’re just going to spend your night at the library when everyone else is partying at the Great Hall. So being a good friend I am, you will go to the Yule Ball with me.” She slapped his arm, hard. Though she admitted that he made a point. She just didn’t want to say it out loud.

She came back from her trance, realized that Jeonghan waved his hand in front of her face. She gulped down nervously as she managed to let her voice out, hoping it wouldn’t sound too timid.

“I—I already have a partner.”

Jeonghan mouthed an “Ah…”, nodding his head and leaned back. His eyes wandered everywhere around the room, drumming his fingers on his knees and whispered, perhaps meaning to himself, though she could make the words crystal clear. 

“He is, then.”

Her mouth went agape, opening and shutting like a fish with no sound coming out. She was still frozen when he excused himself, still managed to say that the book she was currently reading was boring, he fell asleep on page 5. When his back was on her, she wanted to reach him. She wanted to explain that Wonwoo was her best friend for life. She wanted to say that she had no idea why she had a friend who was being a wuss, who didn’t have the courage to ask this Gryffindor girl he had been crushing on since the very first year they became students. Damn, she didn’t even say she was sorry. She wanted to tell him that she was sorry and she swore she would strangle Wonwoo as soon as she met him. 

She watched him flung his arm around a petite guy from her class, flashing a huge grin as he sang, “Did Mingyu fall into the trap?”, having no idea that she was going to have restless nights after this.

***

During two weeks of Easter holiday, when half of the students went home, she decided to stay. O.W.L was approaching, and she never planned to fail. Her parents would drag her out of her bedroom during Easter, visiting their grandparents and family. They set this rule when she was home: no more studying. The thought of her not having enough time to prepare O.W.L made her shudder. So she came out with an excuse, that she caught a horrible cough and couldn’t stop coughing and sneezing. She didn’t want ruin to their Easter celebration, she had said. 

The sun was setting down as she made her way back to the dungeon, hugging a couple of Ancient Runes books. She stopped in front of a damp stone wall and uttered the password. The concealed stone door slid aside, letting her in. 

She expected to find the common room quiet, but it wasn’t. There were only her and one familiar guy in the room, but the sound of him grumbling, flipping and tossing the cushions away, cursing in some language that she didn’t understand, echoed through the air. She hesitated at first, stopped at five feet away from him, before she finally decided to speak.

“Yoon _sunbae_ …”

He turned around quickly. When she saw his face looked like he could chop her into bits, she regretted her decision, ready to turn away and run. But his face somewhat softened as he looked at her, placing his hand on his chest like he was…relieved? Though she was sure she didn’t startle him. She plucked up the courage to ask, ignoring her heart which started to beat frantically as she took two steps closer to him.

“Can I help you?”

Jeonghan dropped his arm and smiled at her warmly. “Don’t call me _sunbae_. It feels like we’re…” Jeonghan paused, hands made a gesture, pointing at her then back at him. He exhaled and gave up, waved his hands dismissively. “Never mind. Anything but not _sunbae_. Please.” He added and threw his body to the couch.

“I was looking for my family necklace. I thought I left it here. But maybe I left it in my room.” He shrugged, a faint pout appeared on his lips. “I’ll look it up later. Anyway, do _you_ need some help?”

She followed his gaze to a couple of books on her chest and understood in a second. “No, I can manage.” She shook her head, and finally, had a reason to return his smile. “Thank you.”

“Preparing an O.W.L huh? How about Arithmancy? You can manage that as well?”

Her jaw slightly dropped at his questions. Arithmancy was her absolute nightmare. She hated it with every fiber of her being. But at the same time a part of her wanted to best it. She didn’t want a subject which was mostly about predicting future using numbers and some composition of complicated number charts made her feel like a fool. That’s why she always asked Wonwoo to help her study. How did Jeonghan know about her least favorite subject, she didn’t know and didn’t want to know, for her heart safety, she thought.

She timidly sat on a couch across him, pondering on what she should respond to that. “Honestly, I feel like there is no way I can manage that.”

His eyebrows shot up, a mischievous grin adorned his face as he leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. “I have a way.”

“And that is…?”

“Do you know that I’m better and smarter than that the boy next house when it comes to numbers?” 

She honestly knew where this conversation would go. But there was no room to make a mistake like she did a year ago. She wanted to make sure she didn’t take it the wrong way. So she pulled, “Oh, I don’t know about it. You are?”

“I am. Maybe this is the time you should change your mentor. I saw your friend is busy with a bob hair girl from Gryffindor.” He clasped his hands together, as if he had already reached a conclusion. “So, introducing me. Yoon Jeonghan, as your new mentor.”

He offered his hand to her. For a moment, she only stared at it. If she wanted this to be right the way she wanted it to be, she was the one who had to make this right. She smiled, taking and shaking his hand like they had just sealed a one million deal.

Jeonghan burst into laughter, realizing how stupid it was. But he kept nodding as he locked his gaze at her, with a huge smile never left his face. And she saw it up-close, the twinkling of his eyes. And she also felt it, there was something burst in her chest, the way it spread all over her body, it was warm and pleasant. She was born a pure-blood, her whole family were wizards and witches. But only now she believed, sure there was magic in this world.


	2. ii

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The future remains unclear, but she wants to hold on to certain certainty: her feeling for him.

The sound of the long wooden chair scraping against the floor resonated through the Great Hall, followed by the Prefects’ yelling towards the first-year students in the midst of chaotic hubbub. She glided away towards a pack of students with blue-striped tie on after she managed to holler a “see you later” to her housemates. Her eyes scanned the crowd for a particular Ravenclaw student who had a gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. When she found him, she ran to him, afraid the crowd would drown him before she had a chance to speak with him. She grabbed his arms, dragged him and went outside, away from the crowd and his friends. She stood still in front of him with her arms crossed over her chest. And there it began the arguing. During the holiday, they didn’t talk to each other. To make it worse, they sat at different compartments in Hogwarts Express. Why, now she was trying to figure it out. Wonwoo looked unbothered, listening patiently and attentively to her grumbles. Maybe it was the reason why she almost yelled when she emphasized the fact that they were not living in the Harry Potter era anymore, where all the communications depend on owls and letters. She gritted her teeth as she said that they could just simply text each other.

“So why didn’t you text me?” He bit back, finally.

“Because you didn’t text me first!” 

“Oh, so that’s how it works, huh?” Wonwoo crossed his arms with his chin up, challenging her. “That’s how it works. I am the one who should text you first, if I don’t, you won’t text me at all. Isn’t it selfish?”

She pressed her lips firmly together, dropping her hands and clutching them at her sides. Wonwoo made a point, and she hated it when he was right. What was she doing now. They had a staring contest for a minute before Wonwoo was the first one who broke the gaze. His eyes darted around the crowd before finally found its focus. 

“I understand that you are now busy with your new Head Boy boyfriend, but I never imagine you would dump me for him.”

Her jaw dropped as she turned around to follow his gaze. There she found him, surrounded by girls and boys who congratulated him for getting selected to be Slytherin’s Head Boy by the Headmaster. His chest thrown out, showing off his shiny Head Boy badge. When a curly red-haired boy reached out to touch it, he swatted his hand playfully before letting out a peal of laughter.

“He is not my boyfriend.” She snarled, looking up to meet Wonwoo’s eyes. She walked past him, bumping her shoulder on his deliberately, without saying goodbye and he also didn’t try to stop her.

The rumbling sound of the thunder escaped from the blackened sky. There were no stars that night. But the sky failed to blanket the moon so it still shone brightly. Instead of going down to the dungeon, she made her way to the Black Lake, the closest side from Slytherin dungeon. The common room was still packed with first-grade students, and it was what she avoided the most, the crowd.

It was only the beginning of the semester but she already hated everything. She hated herself for being so childish, picking a fight with her best friend over a trifle. She hated Wonwoo for putting his smug face on whenever he was right (and he was always right). Above all, she hated Jeonghan who always had a way to take her heart in a roller coaster ride.

Ever since he offered himself to be her Arithmancy tutor last year, they became close. But not close _close_. Twice or thrice a week, they would spend their evening at the library or common room to study Arithmancy. She could smell his perfume, a mix of white floral and musk, whenever he leaned closer to explain things. He would playfully hit her head with a pen when she answered the question wrong, but then quickly caressed the side he hit (sometimes she would deliberately give a wrong answer). She was supposed to study the magical properties of numbers, not counting the stars on his coal-black eyes whenever he leaned closer.

Sometimes, they would walk to the Great Hall together for lunch. He would explain the difference between French loaf and French bread, letting her learn that his hobby was baking and he loved to eat Jewish challah. He would come and sit with her, not minding her friends’ confused stare when he put a treacle tart in front of her and whispered, “I bring your favorite dessert.”

Last fall, during Quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor when Jeonghan, Slytherin’s best Chaser, scored a goal in the last few seconds before the game ended, he flew around proudly, blowing kisses to the Slytherin students as they chanted his name. Soon he stopped a few meters away in front of her, his gaze pierced her eyes before he bowed down, crossing his arm over his chest, like he just bowed to a queen. At that moment, she felt like a queen, and he was the king.

But she never knew what _this_ was. She had a hunch, but she was afraid to be wrong. Every time she felt like she fell too hard and too deep, she reminded herself that this year was Jeonghan’s final year at Hogwarts. He would graduate, and then what? It was none of her business. She always reminded herself that maybe this was just another stupid crush she had on her school. She would grow up and forget that _this_ thing—whatever this thing was—ever existed. There was this wall she built, and she made an oath to keep it steady and sturdy.

She wheeled around to find Jeonghan already stood five feet away from her for God knew how long he was there. There was a hardback book on his hand, swaying as he walked towards her.

“I knew I would find you here.” He stopped, two feet away in front of her, still a safe distance for her though she tried to tune down the beating of her heart. “Here.” He added as he handed out the book to her.

“Arithmancy book?”

“Come on, it’s only the beginning of the semester. There was no way I would torture you with numbers. Though actually you just gave me an idea.” He drummed his fingers on his chin, as if he was planning on something evil.

"So mean.” She looked down and weighed the book on her hands, avoiding eye contact.

“Kidding. Minghao said this book is interesting. There is some stuff that you like. Like mythology-kind-of stuff.” 

She heard her heart gave a loud thump, hoping it didn’t reach his ears. “Why?”

“The pout you made when you strode away to this creepy lake was annoyingly visible.”

“And the book?” She challenged herself to look up and meet his eyes which already stared down at her.

Jeonghan shrugged. “Reading makes you happy.”

And just like that, the wall she built for months just crumbled into pieces.

“Thank you.” She said, as softly as the whispering wind, yet heavy with feelings she wasn’t ready to give a name to. She held the book close to her chest, spring blossomed in her heart, a smile bloomed on her lips. He raised his hand to give her a gentle pat on the head. It was quick, but his gaze stayed on her a few moments too long. She now realized it wasn’t only stars those eyes held captive, but a whole galaxy.

He returned her smile.

“No. Thank _you_.”

She didn’t know falling could be so easy, so fast. And as they walked back to the castle, side by side, their steps in rhythm and their fingers touching, she wasn’t sure she wanted to be caught.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kak Sashi helped me to end this chapter perfectly, forever thankful to have her <3


End file.
